The Current World Championship System
Currently table tennis uses a two yearly staggered system, where the World Team Championships are held every even year (i.e. 2006, 2008, 2010...) and the Individual World Championships are held every odd year (i.e. 2007, 2009, 2011...). These championships are attended by players from nations all around the world, making them massive tournaments which are a huge undertakings to stage. It also obviously means that a player with a 14 year career might only get 7 shots at being a Individual World Champion, and 7 shots at being a Team World Champion.Is there a better way?
A Sample World Title Shot System
To give a starting point for my discussion, I'll suggest a sample world title shot system. A simple method would be to continue with the current Individual and Team World Championships in their present form, but add in an Individual title shot every 2 months or so. That would give roughly 6 title shots a year, 3 of which could go to the current top ranked players. Perhaps the world no.2 would get the first shot, and if he lost the match, he couldn't play in the next title shot. So if he stayed as no.2, the shot would go to the no.3, after which the world no.2 could have another go. This would also leave 3 title shots that could be awarded by the decision of an ITTF Title Shot Selector or Committee, allowing the rewarding of entertaining players or giving up and coming players a chance at glory.A similar method could be used with the Teams competition, although perhaps only every 4-6 months or so to reduce the workload on players.
Benefits of a Title Shot System
After mulling over the sample title shot system for a little while, the following possible benefits spring to mind:- It would increase the chances of producing a world champion from a lesser table tennis nation, which might spark more interest in that country.
- More events with title shots would mean more opportunities to gain publicity, instead of only once a year.
- It might increase the chances of breaking the Chinese stranglehold on the World Championships, especially in the Individual events. A challenger would only have to beat 1 Chinese to win the world title, instead of the usual 2-3 Chinese opponents.
- It would be possible to have different divisions for the world titles, such as hardbat, open play (where speedglue and boosters are allowed), normal play, and perhaps a restricted division where the players all must play with a 1.5 mm allround bat provided by the ITTF.
- Players that play entertaining table tennis (or who are entertaining) could be rewarded with a title shot, which might bring a bit more color to the sport.
- It would be possible to create interesting matchups by choosing challengers that the world champion might not normally play.
- Event nights could be created where 6 or so matches are arranged in advance, with a couple of titles on the line. This would allow for a night of competition that would not be too taxing for players, where spectators would know in advance what matches they would get to see (and entertaining matchups could be chosen), and there would be the added excitement of a couple of world titles being contested. These events would also be much easier to stage than a full knockout tournament.
- Players named in a title match could spend some time preparing for their opponent, which might result in a better quality match.
- Top players would have more chances to claim a world title. Players like Timo Boll or Vladimir Samsonov, who have been consistently at the top of table tennis for many years but with nothing to show for it, would now have more opportunities to finally claim a world title. Maybe even poor old Ma Lin might finally get a win in the Men's Singles!
- The reigning world champion would have to continually prove he is the best by defending his title regularly, rather than winning one tournament and remaining worrld champion for the next two years, regardless of how badly he plays.
- It would increase the importance of attaining a top ranking, since the top ranked players would get the bulk of the title shots. There would be a real incentive to fight for the top positions, and a reward for those players who manage to stay at the top of the sport over time.
Disadvantages of a World Title Shot System
- You could argue that the title shot system might devalue the status of being world champion. This might be true, but then again sports such as boxing and mixed martial arts seem to manage just fine.
- Much would depend on the person or persons who would choose the challengers in the title shots that are open for selection. Poor selections could lead to boring or one sided matches.
- It might impact on the importance of the current Individual and World Team Championships, since players and countries might decide to spend less time preparing for these events that require multiple consecutive wins, and more time preparing for a title shot that requires only one win to achieve glory.
